Okiniiri
by Winged Cyborg
Summary: Allen Walker, human merchandise, is taken to live in the 'care' of Kanda Yuu, or, to be more accurate, to be Kanda's 'Pet'. However, Kanda isn't just another screw-and-abuse Owner, he's freeing Allen from his terrible life. Yullen and Yuuvi
1. Prologue

**Summary: **Allen is the merchandise of a human trafficking agency. When he's sold to Kanda for unknown amounts of money, he discovers he isn't actually Kanda's first purchase - he's the fourth person to be included as a 'Freeman'...whatever THAT means. Yullen.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own DGM, Kanda, Allen, Lavi, Lenalee, Miranda, Komui, or any other canon characters mentioned in this story.

* * *

**Okiniiri**

**Prologue**

Kanda arrived late to the meeting. Apparently, it was the last one before the plans went underway, so he had to be there. He knew that something bad would come of his lateness, but it wasn't _his _fault that people were holding him up in the streets. Until now, he'd forgotten that it was Halloween.

He sighed. Frankly, he was _over _2003. He couldn't wait for 2004, something in his gut told him that it would be better. But, then again, something in his gut _also _told him that he needed to eat a wider variety of food, but he usually ignored that, didn't he?

Anyway...

Kanda pulled up on the side of the road, behind Lavi's motorbike. He grabbed the few sheets of paperwork that were required, and locked his car. Sending one last annoyed glare towards the redhead's vehicle, Kanda entered Komui's apartment.

A table of heads turned towards him as he opened the door quietly. "Sorry I'm late..." He said, although he didn't sound sorry at all.

He sat down in the remaining empty seat, and Lavi nudged him. "It's ok, Yuu-chan! You're late because you were trick-or-treating, aren't you?" He said.

Kanda noticed that the redhead wore a bunny costume, though thankfully not a playboy-style one. He hit him on the head in annoyance. "Idiot. It was Halloween that made me late, but not because I was participating." He said.

They were interrupted by Komui. "Ok, then! Now that Kanda's here, he can choose his Role, and everyone will get theirs confirmed!" He said.

Kanda nodded. _That's more like it _he thought. Then a hat was shoved under his nose. There was a single folded piece of paper in it. Kanda rolled his eyes, and took it, before Komui snatched it from his hand. He swore in protest, and watched as Komui opened it.

There were a few moments silence as Komui wrote Kanda's name on a yellow manila file, and Kanda finally understood. They would know their Roles when they got them confirmed. In this case, you got them confirmed by receiving information.

As the file was handed to him, Kanda could tell that Komui had put a lot of effort into this. "Kanda. I didn't tell you before, because you only just got here, but we made a joint purchase." Komui said as Kanda grasped it. His head snapped up in surprise. "What?!"

Beside him, Lavi nodded. "We purchased two of them. Whoever gets Owner gets double the trouble." He said in amusement.

Kanda suddenly knew which Role he was going to get, and he didn't like it.

He opened the file, and pulled out the first sheet of paper. On it, in large, bold letters, was the word '**OWNER'. **His vision scrolled down to read the rest of the sheet.

_**OWNER**_

_In your role as owner, you will be provided with a house/apartment to live in. You will, as your Role suggests, be the "owner" of the Human Merchandise. You will not be expected to act as a parent would, or to spoil the child in any way, but you will have to be kind, though firm, and realistic in your views. You must not discourage the passions or interests of the child, unless they are unethical or immoral, although you do not have to be interested in their passions or interests either, and should probably encourage them to explore a wide range of things._

_You must understand that the child has had a very traumatizing past as Merchandise in the illegal Human Trafficking business. You must also understand that they may not be used to kindness or freedom from their owners, and are usually treated as slaves, servants, sex objects, or all three. You must feign interest in their past, trying to get to know them is recommended, seeing as you will be acting as their guardian until they move out. Also, you must develop a special bond between them and yourself, a mentoring kind of bond, and be someone that they can trust, rely on, and who will be there for them. _

_As one last thing: They will never be a completely normal child or person, and they may have a few irrational fears due to trauma, but you must help them become as normal as they wish to be, to be the person who they truly are, because no-one deserves the life that they had before they met you._

Kanda read the last few lines five or so times before he realized that he was at the end of the sheet.

He flicked through the next sheets, which contained more Owner instructions, profiles of the two teenagers, and the information they had gathered about the Human Trafficking company thus far. He was then attacked by Lavi. "Yuu! Yuu! What Role did you get? I'm the Mentor!" He said excitedly.

Kanda mumbled something that the redhead couldn't hear. "What was that, Yuu-chan?" He asked cheerfully. Kanda sighed. This was so humiliating. "I'm the Owner..." He said slightly louder.

The rest of the table grinned back at him.

* * *

"What?!" Kanda said loudly. "The last one? We're only going to save _four people?!_"

"Kanda..." Lenalee said soothingly, leaning forward on the table. "We've saved a lot more than _four._ Remember, we managed to shut down five Agencies from the information we got from the first three Freemen?" She said. She touched his hand. "But this one will be the last person who we'll save who we _know by name. _Just by shutting down those Agencies, we were saving future generations of children from that same fate."

Kanda knew she was right, and sighed. "Ok, then. Go on, Komui..."

Komui nodded as he resumed. "The last Freeman is a boy named Allen Walker...he stood out the moment we saw him, and just knew he had to be saved." He said, as he clicked a button on the remote, changing to the next slide, which had a picture.

The boy was about seventeen, had whit hair, grey eyes, and a funny sort of scar or tattoo on his face.

Kanda's eyes widened when he noticed that the boy was looking straight at the camera, smiling.

* * *

**A/N: Ok. There's the prologue. Happy? No? Well, YOU SHOULD BE! *threatening glare***


	2. A New Pet

**Okiniiri**

**Chapter One**

**~The New Pet~**

Ellie looked up from her homework as there was a knock on the door.

"Kanda-tama?" She asked, poking her head into his bedroom a few seconds later. He looked up at her. "What?" He asked in annoyance.

She hesitated. "Umm...I think the new Freeman is here...they said one-thirty, right?" She asked. Actually, it was only one-fifteen, but these guys were notorious for being early.

Kanda nodded distractedly. "Well..." He murmured, then looked at her. "The money's sitting on the bench. Make sure he's the right one, don't ask too many questions, be businesslike, ok? Give them the money and thank them very much, then bring the boy inside and explain to him how this is different." He ordered.

Nodding her head, the seventeen-year-old fetched the sports bag full of money, and answered the door.

On either side of the small, scrawny, white-haired teenage boy, was a man in a black suit and sunglasses. She nodded at them. "Good afternoon." Then she stepped into the outside hallway, and smiled at the boy. "Hello! You're Allen Walker, right?" She asked politely. The delivery men exchanged glances.

Everyone waited for the boy to answer. He seemed extremely shocked. Hadn't they told him that his new Owner was male? And a lot older? This girl was very friendly, but she was his age...she wasn't a Pet too, was she?

He overcame his shock slightly, and nodded. "Yes, I'm Allen Walker." He said. She smiled at him, and then looked coldly at he delivery men. "The files said he was seventeen." She snapped. "He looks about fifteen!"

The man on Allen's right held his hands up in surrender. "We assure you, miss, he's seventeen! It's not our fault that he's so small." He said lamely.

The girl fixed him with a haughty sneer. "I daresay it is." She said coldly. Then, she held a bag of money out to them. "There's the money. Thank you very much, now get out of my sight." She said.

The two men took the money gratefully, and descended the stairs quickly, as though racing to get away.

Without another word, the girl ushered him inside. Once the door was closed, she grinned at him. "Hello, Allen! Welcome to your new home! I'm Elizabeth, by the way." She made a face. "But please call me Ellie."

Allen nodded nervously.

"Ok!" She said, looking at his clothes. "Would you like to get changed? Those prostitute clothes look uncomfortable."

Allen's jaw dropped slightly, and then he nodded. "Yes, please."

Ellie nodded, and gestured that he should follow her. "Your room's up the end, I think Kanda-tama said."

Allen bit his lip nervously. "Kanda-tama is the Owner?" He asked.

Ellie nodded distractedly, and opened the door at the very end of the hall. The room inside was very neat, very plain, and very monotone. "One sec," the girl said "I'll just..." She opened the closet "Ah! Good!"

She turned back to him. "Yup! It's your room, Allen! I'll just go, so you can change into more comfortable clothes..."

As the ends of her brown hair disappeared around the door, and she closed it, Allen wondered why the girl was so cheerful. She was another human pet...wasn't she?

* * *

Allen stood in front of a tall Japanese man. He presumed it was 'Kanda-tama', his new Owner. He bit his lip, and bowed respectfully. "My name is Allen Walker." He said.

The two stared at him. "Um...did I do something wrong?" He asked, though he knew that, if Kanda was the same as his previous Owners, he'd get a beating for that small question.

Kanda shook his head vacantly, and turned to Ellie, who was drinking from a bottle of water. "I thought you'd explained to him." He said. Ellie pursed her lips in annoyance. "I didn't have time, you wanted him _straight away._" She said.

Allen was shocked. She was a Pet, wasn't she? Why was she so rude to her Owner? He stared.

Then she scowled. "Just explain to him yourself. You understand it better than I do." She said.

Kanda seemed to ignore this, and went down the hallway. "Don't call me again until he understands!" He called, before closing his bedroom door.

* * *

"So..." Said Allen, at the end of Ellie's explanation. "Kanda's saving us? You really mean it?"

Ellie nodded and assured him that she wouldn't lie about something so important.

"And...you're sure that companies that you and the other two were from were shut down?" He asked.

Ellie nodded. "Mm-hm. Even all of the agencies that they were connected to were completely shut down." She said.

"And you know that Kanda's in some kind of group? A group of people who are doing this?" He said cautiously.

Ellie nodded again, slightly exasperatedly. "Yes. But all he's told me is that there's five people in the group, and they meet once every two months." She said, before standing up. "I think you're ready to meet Kanda _properly _now."

Allen nodded grimly as Ellie padded up the hall towards Kanda's room, and watched her bare feet disappear around the door.

* * *

"So..." Kanda sneered, towering above Allen Walker, the new Freeman. "You're Allen Walker, are you, Moyashi?"

Ellie winced when Allen nodded humbly. "Yes, I am." He confirmed.

She actually closed her eyes and bit her lip as she saw Kanda grab the boy's chin and pull it upwards, so that Allen was looking at the man properly. He looked horrified at the concept of looking his Owner in the eyes, reading his expressions.

Ellie watched them anxiously, though, as Kanda peered haughtily down his nose at the strange kid. "I am Kanda." The raven-haired man finally said. It wasn't an introduction, it was a statement of fact, daring anyone and everyone to disagree. His tone suggested that he was Kanda, and if anyone had a problem, they could crawl into a hole and die.

Sizing the boy up again, Kanda took a slight step back. "Elizabeth will take care of anything you need." Then he glanced at Ellie. "Don't disturb me until dinner." He ordered.

Ellie nodded slightly, and bit her lip again. She knew that look. It meant that she now had to find out all about Allen. It may be fun, or it may be boring, but she'd probably be killed violently if she didn't do it.

She thought for a moment. "Hey, Allen..." She said, looking towards him.

He bit his lip. "Erm...yeah?" He asked.

She slid down onto the couch, and patted it. "Come and sit down. I want to know everything about you, so we can be best friends!" She semi-lied. She wanted to get along with him, but friends weren't really her thing.

She watched him intently as he sat down hesitantly on the couch. "Um...okay!" He murmured, smiling.

She smiled falsely. "Okay!" She said in artificially happy tones "Who was your last Owner? Where did you live? How long were you his Pet?" She asked.

Allen scratched the back of his head. "Well...it was only a few weeks ago that I was called back. At the time, I was in India with Cross Marian. He was my last Owner. I was his Pet for...a while. Y'see, he was pretty much the only person who wanted me, since I was so weird-looking and small. What about you?" He asked.

Ellie thought for a moment. "I've been a Freeman for three years now. My last Owner before Kanda-tama was Tyki Mikk. He was really angry when they took me back, because, apparently, no matter how much money he gave them so he could keep me, he couldn't match the price that Kanda-tama gave them so he could save me. He was in Portugal, so I had to learn Portuguese." She made a face. "And I was his Pet from about my twelfth birthday until a few days before my fifteenth."

Allen gasped slightly. "You were Tyki's Pet, too? He and my master used to be rivals. They'd always visit each other for a smoke and some alcohol, even though they secretly hated each other and had plans to bring each other down. I met the Pet that he had before you, I think. I remember she didn't really talk, and Tyki always beat her." He gulped. "Did he beat you too?" He asked.

Ellie shook her head, smiling. "Nope! Apparently I was his _favourite._" She rolled her eyes.

She looked at the clock. She hadn't had lunch yet, because she knew that the new Pet wouldn't have, either. "Are you hungry, Allen?" She asked. "I was going to wait for you before I cooked lunch."

Allen nodded eagerly, and Ellie smiled. She got up, and stepped into the kitchen. "What would you like?" She asked, looking through the stuff in the fridge.

Allen bit his lip. "What do you have?" He asked.

Ellie laughed. "Mainly noodles and Japanese-style ingredients, but we've got a few other things in here." She chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Do you like scones?" She asked finally, holding up a plate piled high with them, and two bowls, one filled with whipped cream and the other with jam.

Allen laughed out of pure surprise at the amount of food on the plate, and and Allen took turns finding random foods in the cupboard and fridge, and tried to make them edible. It was the most that Allen had been allowed to eat for a long time. He really needed enormous servings, too.

Ellie didn't seem to eat so much, though. While Allen shoveled scones and noodles and toasted sandwiches into his mouth, she would just laugh and take a few bites out of her own food. Allen couldn't help wondering whether this was healthy for her, whether she needed to eat more, much more, than she already was. She seemed to be wasting away, anyway, like some of the girls back at the agency, whose masters had denied them food for weeks. But she certainly looked healthy enough...she wasn't pale or anything, and she certainly seemed to have energy, so maybe she was just naturally like that.

It was then that Allen realised what had been nagging at his consciousness for a while. Not only was she skinny and short for her age, but the clothes she wore were too big. Her jeans were a mass of extra denim, and covered her swinging feet almost down to her toes, and her blue cotton jumper had the sleeves pulled up, and the bottom of it was down below her backside, even. He'd also noticed that she wore a thin top underneath it, in case it slipped too far over her shoulders.

He stared for a moment. "Elizabeth-san..." He murmured.

Ellie smiled. "Call me Ellie, Dumbo!" She said, making elephant-ear gestures on either side of her head.

Allen nodded sheepishly, trying not to laugh at the ludicrous girl beside him.

She smiled, and removed her hands. "What's up?" She said, relaxing into the cushions again.

Allen opened his mouth for a moment, forgetting about his question. Then he remembered. "Oh! All I was going to say was...how come your clothes are so huge?" He asked.

Ellie looked surprised, and looked down at her clothes. "Oh...I just like to wear baggy things, I guess." She said. "After so many years of wearing skimpy prostitute clothing, having these comfortable, baggy clothes really makes me content." She explained, pulling up one of her cotton sleeves again.

Allen nodded, even if he didn't understand. But he supposed it was like the clothes he was wearing right now. He was so used to wearing revealing, leathery, chafing clothes that wearing soft, mass-produced, and completely comfortable clothes was making his mood considerably brighter. "I...think I understand..." He said quietly, smiling too.

Ellie nodded, and suddenly looked considerably happier. Allen was extremely confused as to why this was.

* * *

About four hours later, Ellie tipped two packets of noodles into a pot of boiling water, and made an exasperated look at Allen. "I hope you like soba, Moyashi." She said.

Allen jumped in surprise. "Eh? Moyashi?" He said.

Ellie stirred the noodles. "That's what Kanda-tama called you. It suits you." She said, leaning against the benchtop.

Allen sweatdropped. "Erm...okay?" He said nervously.

Ellie sighed, idly stirring the buckwheat noodles now, and added some flavouring to the water to make them more edible. There was silence for a while, as steam billowed from the boiling water, and Ellie made the occasional yelp as it burnt her forearms.

"Hey...Moyashi..." She said slowly.

Allen had gotten used to it by now. "Erm...yes?" He asked, wary of what might come.

"When's your birthday?" Ellie asked thoughtfully.

Allen stared at the small brunette, who was now draining the noodles.

"Umm..."


	3. Dreams Only Last For The Night

_**Warning: **__This chapter marks the beginning of the yaoi/shounen-ai/Yullen content. Just a bit. Any person who does not like yaoi/homosexual pairings should not read on from this point, unless the purple elephant told them to, in which case they shouldn't deny the purple elephant. Thanks, that will be all. _

**Okiniiri**

**Chapter Two**

**~Dreams Only Last For The Night~**

Allen thought for a moment. "Technically, I don't have one..." He started.

Ellie stared at him incredulously. "WHAT?!" she said in shock.

"But, I guess...it would be the twenty-fifth of December. That's when Mana took me in." He explained.

"Oh..." Ellie said turning around again and setting up the soba for everyone. "wait, so that means your birthday's on Christmas, right?" She asked.

Allen nodded.

"Cool..." Ellie murmured. "I must remember to nag Kanda-tama about it later." She said as she turned at place the food and soba sauce on the table.

Allen stared at the Japanese food, dumbfounded. He'd never seen such delicious-looking and oriental food before, except when he'd been forced to make it. He felt ecstatic that he could just sit down and eat food made by someone else - at the same table as his Master, too - and not have to worry about dishes or cleaning or being beaten for eating too loudly. He made to sit down, but Ellie stopped him. He squeaked in shock, thinking for a moment that he wasn't meant to eat with them after all.

"Could you go and tell Kanda-tama that dinner is ready, please? He'll be in the room farthest down the hall on the left-hand side." She instructed.

Allen nodded obediently, and hurried off down the aforementioned hall.

He knocked on the door Ellie had indicated, and waited in silence for a moment for Kanda to answer it. Except that Kanda didn't answer it, and Allen ended up waiting for thirty seconds, looking like an idiot, before knocking again. This time, there was a small grunt on the other side of the door that he mustn't have heard the first time.

Slightly embarrassed, Allen opened the door. "Er, K-Kanda-tama-" He started politely, before stopping in shock.

The room was completely empty, with plain white walls and light floorboards on the floor, and...his Master, sitting cross-legged on the floor, shirtless, indigo hair out and flowing over his shoulders. Allen gasped, and averted his gaze, blushing. Kanda was...certainly amazing. Allen knew that if he hadn't've turned away, then he wouldn't have been able to stop looking at him.

He was aware of a slightly annoyed and indifferent gaze on his face. "What do you want?" Kanda asked in a monotone.

Allen looked at Kanda, having totally forgotten why he was here, staring at the beautiful flawless body of his Master, who looked rather bored with him.

"Um..." He started, biting his lip nervously.

Then Ellie's face swam into view, and he jumped in realisation.

"Oh! Oh, that's right!" He muttered. "Eri-san asked me to fetch you for dinner." He said, aware that he looked like a complete idiot.

Kanda stood up. "Okay, then." He said indifferently, walking towards the door. Allen stepped to one side to let him pass, before realising that he had to go too.

Kanda was halfway to the kitchen when Allen caught up with him. They strode in silence for a little while, and Allen noticed how hard he had to work to keep up with his Master's long strides.

Similarly, Allen noticed exactly how long this hallway was. It hadn't seemed so drawn-out when he'd been comfortably walking along it, trying his best to put-off having to see his cranky Owner again, but now that he was racing to catch up to aforesaid Owner, with his heart beating twice as fast as was comfortable, it was taking too long for his liking. It could have been the fact that Kanda was completely silent, and wasn't paying the slightest attention to the younger boy. In a wave of malice, Allen thought that it should be illegal for someone to be so indifferent towards someone who paid so much attention to them, it was cruel.

As though he had read Allen's every thought, Kanda glanced over, and made eye contact with the confused teen beside him. Allen blushed deeply, and almost averted his gaze, before he heard Kanda speak.

"Don't be so submissive." The man said harshly. "Glare at me, tell me off for startlingly you, do whatever you want to do."

Allen stared for a moment, and his pace faltered a bit, before he glared up at his Owner, scowling.

Kanda smirked. "There you go, Moyashi. You can be wilful, if you really put your little Moyashi effort into it." He mocked.

Allen's hands balled into fists, and he glared up at Kanda even more fiercely than before. How had he been taken off-guard by this cocky, arrogant, i_impudent/i _guy? He really pissed him off.

He continued to glare at the side of Kanda's face all the way up the hallway until, seeing as he had been paying his surrounding no attention whatsoever, he promptly fell over a well-placed chair.

Kanda smirked down at Allen, and the boy had a strong urge to punch him.

Ellie didn't attempt to help him either, she just put the chair up and sat down across the table from it grimly. "You guys are fighting already." She murmured, resting her head on her hand and staring at her food.

Allen blushed as an immediate wave of guilt washed over him, and he stood up in a hurry, only to end up falling over again in his rush to stand. Kanda, who had also shown slight signs of guilt, grinned. "Don't trip over your spindly whore legs, Moyashi." He said, sitting down. He picked up his chopsticks. "Oops, you already have!" He said maliciously.

* * *

Ellie sighed inwardly as she played with her noodles, and eyed Allen curiously, waiting for his reaction.

Truthfully, she thought that Kanda was being much too harsh with this whole 'initiation process'. He was testing the Moyashi to see how he reacted to stuff, sure, but he seemed to be enjoying it _way _too much for it to be Nothing Personal. _Her _'initiation process' had only been a few well-placed remarks and a watchful gaze as she did the housework.

But maybe it was a guy thing, she thought. Kanda was showing Allen who was boss, who was the manliest man in the household. It was like the father dog showing all the puppies who they should obey, or the young lions challenging the older lions for dominance.

She shook her head absentmindedly. She really couldn't believe she was comparing those two to various animals. Her point was, Kanda was being a real arsehole.

Careful to see that Kanda wasn't looking, Ellie caught Allen's attention and made a brief 'sorry' face in his direction, jumping when Kanda suddenly turned his attention onto her.

Shooting one last malignant glare at Kanda, Allen picked up his chopsticks and began eating, and Ellie sighed in relief as she saw Kanda return to his food too, though not without a slight curl of the lip as he glared fervently at the boy in between mouthfuls.

Quickly, Ellie found herself becoming distracted, preoccupied, and she chewed the end of her chopsticks absentmindedly as she looked out of the window at the grey sky, which was slowly turning into a burnt orange colour as the sun lowered in the sky.

She was faintly aware of Kanda getting increasingly annoyed as he ate, and that Allen seemed to also be drifting off into his own thoughts, though for some reason she thought that they could be more like fantasies.

* * *

Kanda growled under his breath as he noticed Ellie's pensive expression, and that the Moyashi seemed to be gazing at him in a strange way.

It wasn't even gazing, he thought. The boy was blushing slightly, watching his hair move as his chopsticks dived in for another mouthful of the soba, and watching his hands, too, as he ate. Kanda was no expert on homosexual fantasies, but he knew that the kid was thinking _something _that was at least slightly gay. He'd bet Mugen that it was how damn fine he was. Well, he _wouldn't _bet Mugen, but you get the general idea.

Calmly, without a change in expression, Kanda sighed.

"Purple rhinoceroses drink fermented urine." He said calmly, glancing at the two out of the corner of his eyes.

He tried again. "Only green roses bloom in winter, and as a result, the population of spotty bees is slowly dying." He said, slurping up his noodles.

His eyebrow twitched sporadically, and he slammed his fist onto the table.

"Didn't you two idiots hear _anything _that I just said?!" He yelled. They blinked at him. "I just told you that purple rhinoceroses drink fermented urine, green roses bloom in winter, and that spotty bees are dying, and you didn't even hear any of it!"

He was aware of their perplexed expressions. "Not that it was important. It's just that you two retards should stop spacing out!" He said angrily.

"Gochisosama." He added, putting his used things into the sink. "Don't you dare disturb me unless it's an emergency." He ordered Ellie.

* * *

Ellie glared at her Master. "Do you really think it was a good idea to leave Allen on his own, Kanda-tama?" She asked.

Kanda grunted. "Yes. But that's not important right now. A better question to ask is: _why are we buying a present for the Moyashi?!_" He said in annoyance.

"Three reasons." Ellie said, crossing her arms. "First, as a welcome into our place, second, because it's Christmas, and third, because it's his birthday."

Kanda sighed. "So?" He asked.

Ellie growled under her breath. "What do you mean '_so' _?! Allen is Free now, he has the right to get a present on his birthday!"

Kanda grunted. "Whatever. You're just lucky that I'm a rich bastard who's got so money he doesn't know what to do with it." He said, scowling.

Ellie sighed. "Kanda-tama, _nobody's _lucky that you're a rich bastard who's got so much money he doesn't know what to do with it."

Kanda grimaced. "Say that again."

"We don't have time for your stupid ego right now, Kanda. We've gotta do this quickly, before Zöe finds out that there's a skinny British kid sitting in our apartment all alone, who is easily embarrassed and just begging to be taken advantage of." Ellie said with fake drama.

"True." Kanda said.

* * *

Allen lay in his bed with a thoughtful expression on his face, as though he were doing a particularly difficult maths problem. The thing was, he was tired, _very _tired, and the pitch dark wasn't helping him one bit. He wanted to sleep, _needed _to sleep. He felt safe here, he knew that, if he slept, no-one would try to kill him or otherwise. But he just couldn't bring himself to close his eyes, because he knew that, if he slept, he'd have dreams about _him_, his new Owner. In annoyance, he checked his clock.

"Eleven fifty-three..." He murmured thoughtfully.

There was a strange feel in the air as he debated whether to sleep or not.

"Oh, bollocks it." He growled, turning over and closing his eyes.

It only took a second to drift into glorious, wonderful, but slightly embarrassing, dreams.

* * *

Ellie lay in her pyjamas, on top of her bedclothes as she always had done, and panicked.

What if Allen didn't like her present?

What if he couldn't understand it?

What if he couldn't _read? _

What if Kanda bought him something wildly inappropriate when she wasn't looking?

She thought back to that afternoon.

_Looking at the books in satisfaction, Ellie picked up a whole box-set of them and weighed them in her hand. "I think I'll get these." She murmured. "He'll like these, I'm sure of it."_

_Kanda eyed the books in her hand. "Do you like those books?" He asked thoughtfully._

_She nodded. "Of course! They're the most wonderful books ever!"_

_Kanda's eyebrows knitted together. "Haven't you already got all your own copies?" He asked._

_Ellie sighed. "Yes, but Allen deserves his own copies, too." She said, and that ended the matter._

_She put them onto the counter, and paid for them._

_Kanda tapped her on the shoulder as the cashier printed her receipt out. "I'm going to buy a separate present for him." He explained. "One for you, too." _

_Ellie nodded. "Okay, then."_

She sighed. "Goddamnit, Kanda-tama. I hope you didn't buy something stupid..."

* * *

Allen rolled around in his bed as Kanda kissed him for what had to be the twentieth time that night. Sleeping self sighed contentedly, and Kanda smiled. "You're so cute, Moyashi." He said fondly, making Allen blush.

And the world continued to glow in a pinkish-red colour, and the older man held the boy in his arms.

There was happy silence for a long time, until suddenly a voice echoed through the air, with no apparent origin. It was female, and singing beautifully. Allen listened for a while.

"Sun gleams bright, hearts are light, merry, merry Christmas. Bells ring out, children shout, merry, merry, merry Christmas." Sang the voice, in a happy Christmas way.

It seemed familiar to Allen, as did the song itself. Wasn't that the song Ellie had sung yesterday as she wrapped presents in her bedroom? Maybe. It wasn't like he'd been paying attention.

As soon as he'd focused on the real world, Allen felt the dream slipping away, taking the dream-Kanda with it. He gasped, and the pink and red and Kanda were washed down a hole in his brain, disappearing from sight.

He woke up gasping for breath, and sweating like a pig.

Outside his door, he heard the sound of a vacuum cleaner being put away, and Ellie humming the song that had penetrated his dreams. There was a knock on his door, and he jumped as Ellie opened it, dressed in very nice blue clothes which fitted her, and a wreath of tinsel in her hair. "Wake up, Allen!" She said. "We've been waiting around for ages to give you your present!"

In a sudden rush of braincells, Allen leapt out of bed, realising what this meant. It was the first time in at least fifteen years that he'd gotten presents that weren't dirty and perverted. He pushed Ellie out of the doorway, and raced down the hall towards where he could see the Christmas tree gleaming from the eleven-O'clock light. He tried to stop before he hit it, but ended up slipping and kicking on of the presents and almost knocking the tree over.

He heard footsteps behind him, and Ellie giggled. "Glorious entrance, Allen." She said, kneeling beside him.

She reached into the small pile of presents, and withdrew one that was large and heavy, with silver and green wrapping. "This is for both your birthday and Christmas. I'm sure you'll love it." She said.

Allen stared at the present in awe, taking in the feeling of joy that came with it. It was wondrous, and he ripped the wrapping open in his eagerness to see his gift.

Inside the wrapping was a box-set of seven hard cover books, which seemed to get thicker with every volume. He removed the first one. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone..." He murmured.

"Isn't this that book series that's really popular?!" He asked Ellie.

She nodded, smiling. "Yes. It's my favourite series."

He hugged her. "Thankyou very much!"

"Maybe you shouldn't hug her, Moyashi. Some people around here would kill any other boy who did that." Came a voice from behind him.

He turned around to see Kanda. He stood up, blushing. "K-Kanda-tama! Merry Christmas!"

Kanda put on a fake semi-smile, and picked up two presents from the pile. They had dark blue wrapping with stars on them. He handed one to each of them. "Happy Holidays, you guys." He said, sitting on the couch.

Curiously, Ellie and Allen ripped open the wrapping, to reveal matching Hogwarts uniforms, Ellie's with a Ravenclaw badge, and Allen's with a Gryffindor badge. There were even wands and a matching scarf each.

"Woah..." Ellie said in awe, and hugged Kanda so tight that he yelped in surprise.

Allen stared at his uniform curiously. "Eri-san..." He murmured, picking it up. "What is this?"

Ellie smiled. "These are uniforms from the book. Kanda heard me say that I love the series while I was buying the books."

Allen smiled. "I think I'll definitely like the books, Eri-san." He said.

She grinned. "Merry Christmas you guys." She murmured, standing up.

She patted her friend on the head. "And happy seventeenth birthday, Allen."


	4. Careful Now

**Okiniiri**

**Chapter Three**

**~Careful Now~**

December 25th went by in a rush of happiness, and a blur of colour. Not long after Allen had opened his first two presents, the first two Freeman foundlings had come over.

The oldest was named Warren, and he had curly dark hair, wore glasses, and made a lot of good-natured comments about Kanda's attitude. He was very easy to get along with, and Allen admired him for it.

The second oldest was named Zöe, who was very funny and happy and did silly things, and she had short blonde hair with coloured tips, a tattoo under her eye, and a T-shirt with bullet holes in it, as well as three bridge piercings. They had given him a thick, extremely good quality, winter coat, saying that if they'd waited until actual winter, it would have been twice the cost. He'd put it on over his pyjamas, and it fitted perfectly.

After that, a red-headed man about Kanda's age had burst through the door with an armful of brightly coloured presents, and had put a Santa hat on Kanda's head, much to everyone else's amusement. He had introduced himself as Lavi Bookman, Kanda's roommate from college and the counsellor at Ellie's college. He seemed to be the happiest person in the world, no matter how much Kanda cursed and glared at him, and Allen thanked him wholeheartedly for the enormous box of Belgian chocolates the man had given him.

The 26th went by in very much the same way. He and Ellie had sat on the couch reading until Ellie was forced to cook lunch, and then Warren and Zöe had come and dragged them both down to the beach, which was apparently nearby. After being pushed into the ocean in their thin summer clothes several times, they had spotted Lavi and called him over to have a water fight with them. The rest of the day was spent swallowing too much seawater, and laying on the hot sand to dry off.

After that, every day was the same. They'd eat breakfast, Allen and Ellie would read, have lunch at one o'clock, Ellie would go back to her room for a while to do something music-related, Allen would fight with Kanda, and then Ellie would walk with him down to the corner shop for an expensive icecream on the hot metal railings near the beach.

But the most important thing was, Allen would still dream of the boorish, loud, obnoxious Owner he'd been stuck with. He'd tried to break up his routine so that he only had to see Kanda at meals, but no amount of feigned illness, reading in solitude, or inviting Lavi over to play scrabble prevented him from seeing the man's strangely beautiful face in his dreams, with his long-fingered hands caressing Allen's face, his indigo hair floating everywhere, and, for some odd reason, purple elephants on unicycles eating hazelnut and boysenberry icecreams, though he supposed that last one was the sugar overload and the channeling of Lavi's mind.

* * *

Lavi finished the last sentence of his report and saved it, ready to e-mail to Komui and Lenalee in the morning. _No rush _he told himself, siphoning through it for spelling mistakes.

This particular report was his Mentor report on Allen, as well as updates on Ellie, Zöe, and Warren, among other random thoughts and notes and suggestions which were usually dotted randomly through the reports, often not actually related to the paragraph at all.

He sighed in boredom, and ran his hands through his messy hair, while turning up the volume on his CD player, even though he wasn't listening too intently. As he hummed to the nondescript bass line, he was aware of another song playing the background. It was familiar, and it meant something important. What was it again? Turning down his music slightly, the Caramelldansen song that was his ringtone came into audibility. Swearing mildly, Lavi leapt for his iPhone, which was perched atop a pile of random non-fiction books, and answered it.

"Hello?" He greeted the unseen person on the other end.

"_Lavi_." Answered the voice on the phone. It was currently cold and slightly harsh, but sweet and innocent at the same time. It was Lenalee.

"Lenalee-chan!" Lavi said nervously. "Um...what can I do for you?"

"_Just reminding you that our January meeting is tomorrow evening, Lavi. How's that basic report on Marian Cross going?_" She asked.

Lavi opened another document window in Microsoft Word, one that he'd titled '_Who is Marian Cross?' _in bold writing. Underneath, there were three words: _No fucking idea. _

"Quite well, actually." He lied. "But how come I have to do it? I mean, _you're _the Investigator, Lenalee, I'm just the Mentor, I'm not meant to write up reports on this kinda stuff."

"_Yes you are. The Pets aren't allowed to meet me, so how am I going to get information on their old owners and agencies? You're the one who does that, I just find the agencies and owners and arrest them._" Lenalee said exasperatedly.

"Fine, whatever, see you tomo-" He started, before he heard the faint beeping, indicating that the innocent girl had hung up on him.

He made an underwhelmed scoffing sound, and put the iPhone onto a tall column of computer game cases that were close at hand, then, humming tunelessly, he typed a few random dotpoints of what he knew about Marian Cross, which actually _was _nothing at all. After stating the obvious a few times, and poking fun at the man's decidedly feminine name, Lavi reached towards his phone, and speed-dialed someone. The person in question had been a great source for information back when Lavi had been a proper detective, and not just some guy who lazed around playing computer games, reading books, and talking to high school kids about their problems.

* * *

Allen stomped down the hallway and flopped onto the couch, fuming angrily for a while before Ellie looked up.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Did Kanda-tama fight with you again?"

Allen pouted. "Not really. He's sulking. Just _sulking _like a child!" He said in disbelief.

Ellie tilted her head to one side. "Did you do something to him?" She asked, bewildered.

"NO!" Allen said. "I think it's the opposite."

Ellie looked at him sceptically. "You think he's upset because you _didn't _do something? That's highly unlikely, Moyashi."

Allen growled under his breath. "I _know, _I just-"

He stopped. Kanda was standing at the end of the hallway, scowling. It didn't seem to be at Allen, exactly, it was more like he was scowling at the universe in general. Completely ignoring the two teenagers, he turned into the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, and left again.

Once he'd left, Ellie sighed. "I think I know what the problem is." She said.

Allen looked at her curiously.

"It's that time of the month." She explained.

Slowly, Allen's face became picture of pure horror and confusion. "_WHAT?!?!" _He screamed in fear, starting to blush.

Ellie furrowed her eyebrows. "I mean the time of the month when he has to go to the Savior meetings or whatever. He says that everyone there always makes him angry and annoys him, and he sulks for days before and after them." She explained.

"Did you _have _to say 'that time of the month'?!" He yelled.

Ellie grinned. "Well, it fits, right?"

Allen fumed at her.

* * *

Kanda fumed as he turned the corner into Komui's street, and wondered briefly whether killing himself would be worth it. After a moment of thought, he decided that it was no use, Lavi would manage to go beyond the grave just to annoy him, and Lenalee would find a way to kill him.

He flopped his head onto the steering wheel as he felt his soul slowly escape from his mouth, and was aware of impending doom. _Something's not right..._ he thought, lifting his head up slowly, just in time to yell in shock and dodge Lavi's motorbike, which was speedily trying to get away from him. He screamed again as he saw someone on the sidewalk in front of him, and slammed the brakes on hard in hope that the person would run.

He closed his eyes tight as he heard a woman yell in surprise, and he felt the impact as she was knocked off her feet and landed on the bonnet of the shiny black Mercedes.

He could hear two sets of breathing, and wondered where the other person was, before he realised it was himself. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, eyes clenched closed, before hearing a pained gasp from the unintended victim. He opened his eyes, and cried out in shock as he saw the familiar face of Miranda Lotto pressed against his windscreen, with blood running down her face from where she'd hit her head on the car. Her body was crumbled on the bonnet, and it looked like she was unconscious.

Kanda had to admit, he was pretty damn shaken. It wasn't like Miranda was his best friend, but at least she was nice and friendly, and kinda cute sometimes. Needless to say, Kanda was actually sort of fond of her, in a god-you're-so-useless way, and he'd be kinda sad if he had killed her. And it was a blow, really, to hear himself whimper as she twitched slightly on his windscreen.

He was faintly aware of Lavi, shaking him and yelling at him in anger and shock. He heard himself whimper again, and people running towards the car.

* * *

Lavi stood outside the operating theater with Lenalee and Komui, staring at the motorbike helmet in his hands. He wasn't aware at all of the hospital around him, and he didn't want to be. He hated hospitals. All the sick and dying, and broken people, either determined to live or already soulless. He'd only been a patient once or twice, thankfully, but they'd always been serious injuries, like the shrapnel in his eye or puncture in his lungs.

And now...well, he wasn't so much worried for Miranda as he was for Yuu. He really liked Miranda, but, somehow, he had confidence that someone who meant so much to someone else as to practically keeping them from becoming suicidal, would not be killed off by the universe. Somewhere, there was someone controlling them, like an author writing a story, and they knew that she was important. Or something. Anyway, he was more worried for Yuu, because he didn't want this experience to be imprinted into his memory forever, didn't want it to be the breaking point for him.

His thoughts were interrupted as Ellie sped up the hallway, pulling Allen by the wrist. Both of them were wearing jackets, obviously because the night had suddenly gotten cold.

"Where's Kanda?" She asked as she stopped in front of him. He could hear the anxiety ingrained into her voice.

"Being treated for shock." Lavi said absently, staring at the helmet.

The silence in the air had substance, Lavi noticed, from what Ellie was leaving unsaid.

"And Miranda's going to be fine. Apparently the impact wasn't too bad, even though Kanda was speeding." He finished, not waiting for Ellie's next question.

The girl visibly sagged with relief, and sunk to the ground, still gripping Allen's wrist.

* * *

Allen's thoughts swirled dangerously in his head as he scrutinized the other two people with Lavi. Who were they that they'd come running when Kanda was in a car crash? Were they his family? They definitely had similar colouring, but they had no matching features. At least, no features that matched Kanda's. Maybe they were family of this Miranda person? Certainly possible, but wouldn't they be a bit more distressed if they were relatives?

The whole conundrum was certainly strange, but, really, all Allen could think about was the nagging in the back of his mind, and a deep, almost soulful, pull in his heart. Was it tugging towards that door over there? Or was it leading him to that door with writing on it? Weird...

There was a tug on his sleeve. "Allen? You're spacing out."

He resurfaced to see Ellie looking at him anxiously. "Do you wanna go see Kanda?" She asked. "You look kinda lost."

Allen nodded slowly. Yes, he wanted to see Kanda. Very much. His heart had started racing in anxiety at the thought of Kanda being so shaken that he needed treatment.

Ellie tugged on his sleeve again. "Are you coming? If you don't think you can handle it, you can stay here, y'know." She said reassuringly.

Allen shook his head, scoffing. "I've only been living with you guys for twenty-six days, it's not like I could've developed some sort of emotional attachment to him." He said, lying through his teeth.

Ellie bit her lip. "If you say so."


	5. Self Control

**Okiniiri**

**Chapter Four**

**~Self Control~**

They passed through the doors with 'Psychiatric Ward' printed on them in white, and Allen glanced back towards Lavi, who was now talking to the other two people. "Hey, Ellie..." He said.

"Hm?"

"Well, um...who were those other people? The ones with the dark hair?" He asked.

The girl shrugged. "They show up from time to time when particularly terrible stuff happens. The girl's really close to him, I think she might be his sister." She looked thoughtful "I tried asking him about it once, he said they were only his friends, and barely even that."

"What does he mean by that?" Allen wondered.

"Does it look like I speak arsehole? Not a clue." She sighed. "The last time she was here, though, she was trying to reconcile about something, and he got really angry. I think she did something to hurt or betray him in the past, because he said he'd never forgive her for 'that thing'"

"What's 'that thing'?" Allen asked curiously.

"Your guess is as good as mine." She said tiredly. "But if he's being treated for shock, and he's asleep, then we may hear something about his supposedly 'traumatic' past. He tends to speak in quite good detail when he's having nightmares. But..." She bit her lip "Maybe it's none of our business. Once we know...well, maybe we'll wish we didn't, and that's why Kanda didn't tell me."

Allen nodded morosely beside her. "Life's complicated sometimes." He murmured.

Ellie opened the door to specific ward that Kanda was in, and held it for Allen. "That it is." She agreed as she closed it after him.

* * *

Lavi tapped his helmet boredly. "Don't you think that was stupid? You shoulda introduced yourselves with fake names or something, and made up stuff so that they wouldn't take much notice of you." He said.

"Why?" Lenalee asked.

"Because. Ellie's damn observant, I bet she noticed you every time she saw you, and knew there was something odd. She fancies herself as an investigator, and she wouldn't be half bad as one, either." He explained.

"That doesn't mean anything. It's none of their business why we're here, we shouldn't have to explain ourselves." She said coldly.

"Y'know, Lenalee, you used to be cute and innocent."

"Then I grew up."

Lavi sighed. "Suit yourself. But maybe you should remember that all men like cute things. We've got a soft spot for them."

Lenalee glared at him.

"I'm just sayin'" He said playfully.

The conversation hit an uninteresting lull at this point, and Lavi hit his head on the wall a few times. "This is boring. Wanna go see Yuu-chan, Lenalee?" He asked hyperactively.

"No." Lenalee muttered.

"But-" Lavi started.

"Stop it." Lenalee growled.

"Stop what?"

"Stop being so fake! You're always like this when something happens! ALWAYS! Even when you want to cry, you just put on that stupid smile and act like a child!" Lenalee shouted.

Lavi stared for a moment, then pouted. "Don't make such a racket, ne?"

* * *

Allen looked towards the door as someone else entered the room. "Lavi-san!" He said, seeing the redhead smile at him.

"Hey." Lavi replied, sitting on another seat next to the sleeping Kanda. "D'you know what medication they've put him on?"

Ellie nodded. "The nurse said they had him on Adrenalin, Levothed, and Solu-Medrol*. But I don't know what amounts."

Lavi nodded. "Ah. That's good." He said absently.

They sat in silence for a while, Lavi staring intently at Kanda, Allen taking guilty glances at him every now and again, and Ellie merely spacing out, until they heard a low groan from Kanda's bed as he awakened.

"K-Kanda-tama!" Allen said in relief.

"Eh, are you feeling okay?" Ellie asked.

There was a few awkward seconds of silence, before Lavi burst into random yells of joy.

"Yuu-chan! My sweet honey! You're awake!" He said, hugging the raven-haired man.

"What?! Who the hell's your fucking sweet honey?! Baka Usagi!" Kanda yelled, attempting to squirm out of his grip.

"Yuu-chaaan." Lavi whined. "You're so noisy. Urusai, urusaaaiii.**"

"Who has to shut up?" Kanda growled, punching Lavi into the wall.

"You're so mean, Yuu-chaaaaaaaaan." Lavi whined again.

Ellie smiled nervously. "Eh, Kanda-tama, should you really be so active when you just had medication?"

Kanda scowled. "It's not like I'm dying." He patted her head. "Don't be so nervous all the time, you get on my nerves."

Ellie blushed slightly, scowling.

Kanda sighed. "Now, why am I here again?"

* * *

Allen slept in the car on the way home, which was surprisingly far away from the hospital. Today had been kinda taxing. Well, not the day part so much as the 'rushing to hospital to see Kanda' part. He wished he hadn't gone, truthfully, because now his heart was hurting even more than before, and for some reason his thoughts wouldn't form in his head properly. What _was _that feeling? When Kanda had asked to speak to Lavi alone, and had come out looking all solemn, and Lavi looking all determined, and....and when he'd grabbed his wrist to pull him along because he was spacing out, he'd gotten all hot and flustered. What the hell was it? It confused him so much.

He growled in annoyance, and hit the armrest on the inside of the door angrily. "Argh, what the hell?!"

He looked over at Ellie, who was tapping her fingers rhythmically and staring out the window. Both of them remained silent, one troubled, the other bored.

"...what?" Ellie asked eventually.

"What do you think?" Allen asked evenly.

"I think that if Voldemort is so great, then he wouldn't try so hard to be the best. If you're already the best, then there's no improvement needed." She said simply.

Allen blinked. "...what are you on about?" He asked eventually.

"You only asked me what I thought, you didn't specify what I should be thinking _about_."

"But...didn't you hear?" Allen asked in bewilderment.

"There was nothing _to _hear, baka." Ellie said in exasperation.

"Hmph. But I can't stop thinking about it!!!" Allen said angrily, flopping into his seat.

"But you're not going to tell me?"

"What? No way!!"

There was silence for a little while.

"Fine, then. How much Japanese do you know?" Ellie asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm almost fluent, why?"

"I have a riddle for you, something that might take it off your mind."

"Shoot."

"Okay, then, here we go. What kind of flower, when you put two of them together, falls apart?" She asked, smiling.

* * *

Kanda woke at two in the morning, to the sound of sleepy murmurings and the sensation of someone pulling his hair. He turned over groggily, and rubbed his eyes so he could see who it was.

_What...the fuck?_

On the other side of his bed, wearing only skimpy bedclothes and sleeping above the covers, was Allen Walker. His white hair was extremely tousled, and there was a dark patch on Kanda's pillow where he'd drooled. He also seemed to be holding a lock of Kanda's hair in his small, pale hands.

It took Kanda a moment to process the situation, before-

"AAAARGH! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

* * *

Ellie opened the bathroom door, and practically fell into the room. She'd gotten up later than expected today, and had to make up for it. Struggling to keep her eyes open, she put toothpaste on her toothbrush and started brushing her teeth. As far as she could tell, both guys were still asleep, which was unusual, seeing as Kanda usually got up earlier. She'd have to have an extremely quick shower, get dressed, and then race to make breakfast before they woke up.

After she'd finished brushing her teeth, she yawned and stared at herself in the mirror for a while as she planned the rest of the day in her head. She'd gotten to about lunch, when-

"AAAARGH! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

She blinked twice, and ran down the hall towards Kanda's room.

She opened Kanda's door and burst in. "What in the name of all that is holy is going on?"

Allen yawned and sat up. "Whazz goin' on? Who's shwearin' at me?" He said sleepily.

Ellie cringed.

"I AM, YA LITTLE RUNT!" Kanda yelled.

Allen looked at him for a moment. "Oh...okay. Whadda ya doin' in my bed., though?"

"THIS IS MY BED, YA IDIOT!" Kanda yelled again.

Allen looked around him. "That it is."

"GET OUT!!!"

Allen looked dazed. "Hey Kanda, what kinda plant turns into two plants then falls apart?"

Kanda stared at him. "...what?"

"A radioactive one! HAHA!" He said, holding both arms in the air in joy.

"Were you dropped on the head as a child?" Kanda asked.

Ellie sighed. "I think he was dropped on the head as an _adult_." She said, grabbing both of his arms and pulling him off Kanda's bed.

* * *

Lavi was woken at eleven in the morning by the sound of his phone ringing. Groggily, Lavi unstuck his face from his keyboard, and answered it.

"What kinda time do ya call this?" He said grumpily.

"_..It's eleven o'clock, Baka Usagi_." Said the voice on the other end.

"Yuu-chan! Why are you calling me so late at night?" He asked.

"_It's morning, retard." _

"...You mean I'm actually awake at eleven in the morning?" He asked incredulously.

"_That would be correct, yes."_

"Well, fuck me." He said in amazement.

"_Funny you should say that. I was actually calling to see if you'd like to, er, go along with our agreement today."_

Lavi's face became serious. "You sure? You don't have to, ya know."

"_Of course I'm sure. And actually, I do have to. It's you or my hand, pretty much, and I prefer actual sex over wanking." _

Lavi blushed. "Y-Yuu-chan! You're making me all hot and-" Lavi started.

"_Then come over, baaaaaaka. Ellie and Allen are going grocery shopping and seeing Miranda, so they're leaving in five minutes. Come over then." _He ordered, then hung up.

Lavi put his phone down, looking disgruntled. Should he be happy that the guy he loves wants to fuck him, or sad 'cause it's only because he can't have Allen? Should he have even said yes when he'd asked him yesterday? Any mature adult would have said no. Truthfully, he felt kinda guilty, because he knew that Kanda would regret it later, and he knew he was taking advantage of his handsome friend. But, then again, his heart was beating so fast right now, and he practically had a boner, so if he closed his eyes right now and let his guard down, his instincts would make his body move on its own. Yeah, then he wouldn't be held responsible.

He ran out the front door, grabbing his keys on the way out.

* * *

Ellie yawned. "How about leeks? D'you like leeks?" She asked, weighing one of the aforementioned vegetables in her hand.

"I like _everything, _Ellie-san..." Allen said.

She put three leeks into the basket. "How 'bout sweet potatoes? I don't remember asking you before."

Allen sighed. "Seriously, Ellie-san, I haven't found a food that I don't like yet. I like _everything._"

"Seriously?" Ellie asked. "Maybe you _are _as boring as Kanda-tama expected. But, then again, you were probably punished if you didn't like something, right?"

Allen bit his lip. "Mm-hm. But I kinda just learned to love everything, and I got used to the taste of weird foods, so I just decided it wasn't worth the time and effort to hate anyone or anything."

Ellie smiled. "How easy of you.***"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess." Allen said, laughing awkwardly.

Ellie stared indifferently off into space, before turning abruptly to face her friend. "Well, I think that's all we need! Now we can go visit Miranda-chan!"

Allen nodded, and they paid for their food.

* * *

* No idea what any of these do or how severe they are, I just know that they treat various kinds of shock and psychiatric stuff.

** Means 'Shut up', for those who don't know (or don't watch subs)

*** Here, Ellie's referring to the Japanese word 'yasashii' which means 'easy', but also 'kind', 'nice', and 'amiable' etc. She's using it as a pun to lighten up the mood, but also to suggest that, with Allen's attitude as such, he was 'easy', in the more sexual meaning of the word.

**A/N: I'm sorry that it's so short, guys, but I couldn't see a way to do what I wanted while putting more into this chapter. GOMEN NASAI!**


	6. The Best Of Us

**Okiniiri**

**Chapter Five**

**~The Best of Us~**

_Allen kicked and squirmed under the strange wrappings, and he breathed heavily as they covered his mouth, beginning to smother him. He could feel dozens of hands touching him, trying to keep him still as they wrapped him in heavy bloodstained cloth. The vile smell of blood and dirt mixed together reached his nostrils, and he began to wretch as other odours joined the throng. Stale sweat and urine, coupled with sulphur and burning flesh._

_He wanted to cry out and scream, but his fear was so great that his vocal cords were completely paralysed. It was better than inhaling that stench through his mouth, though._

_He felt the wrappings tighten as hard as they could around his struggling body, and someone hit him through them with a blunt object. He went still and fell silent. Seemingly satisfied, the invisible hands gave one last tug before tying a tight knot in the cloth._

_Several people seemingly picked him up, and Allen tried to squirm, move a bit, _anything _to make them drop him or something, but he was tied too tightly; he couldn't move a muscle. He felt himself rushing through the air, and the impact as he collided with a stone wall._

_After a momentary pause, Allen felt a liquid seep through the material. It was probably oil or petrol, from the smell, and Allen could only guess what was going to happen next. He could hear muffled laughter, and then raised voices as two men fought over a cigarette lighter. _

_The voices got louder - or closer, he couldn't really tell which - and Allen tensed up completely. In a few seconds, the cigarette lighter would be put beside the wrappings, and the whole bundle would be set alight, probably burning Allen beyond recognition. _

_And then, he was freed. He didn't know how it happened, he had probably been paying too much attention to his impending doom, but a man with long hair sliced open the wrappings, and pulled him out._

_On the floor lay his captors, about ten in all, all injured or dead on the stone. He looked up to thank the man - correction; men - who had saved him, but both wore masks. Still, he opened his mouth, to find that no sound would come out, and something yanked on his neck. He looked down, to see that there was a thick iron shackle around his neck, with two chains protruding from it. His gaze followed up the chains, and he realised that the chains were attached to shackles on either wrist of both men. _

And that was the point when he woke up. That was _always _the point when he woke up. And after twelve or so years of that dream, he still didn't understand why it still made him sweat and writhe in pain. Without bothering to check the clock - he knew that it was still the wee hours of the morning - Allen slid off his bed and slunk out of his room, creeping towards the bathroom. He needed to wash his face, or a cold shower, maybe.

---

Across the hall, Ellie was also sweating, writhing in fear on her bedclothes.

_She was splayed across the floor, in front of a pair or shining golden scales, and on either side of the scales was a solid gold basic throne. Neither of these thrones held much interest for Ellie, it was the people sitting on them that held all of her attention._

_On the left was a man, with curly dull brown hair, and on the right was a woman, with shorter bright red hair. Both wore white masquerade masks decorated with gold and silvers swirls, but this didn't hide the fact that they were smiling sadistically. _

_The woman stood up, stepping towards her, and Ellie suddenly realised why they seemed so familiar. These were the people who she remembered as her parents. As her mother leaned forward, she could feel a great wrench in her chest, and looked down to see the bloody heart in the woman's pale hand. _

_She placed the heart on one end of the scales, and suddenly the world went completely dark. All that was left were the gold scales and the floating faces. _

"_Does your heart weigh more than a feather?" The man whispered._

"_Does it?" The woman asked._

_At that point, a million voices rose from the blackness, all repeating the sentence, and listing her sins. The man and woman changed, and took off their masks to reveal the faces of Tyki and Kanda._

"_Does your heart weigh more than a feather?" All the voices asked at once._

_Tyki placed a feather on the other end of the scales, and both men laughed wickedly._

"_Why, I think it does." They said together._

Ellie woke up, screaming softly, and threw her alarm clock across the room, where it made a loud _thud _on the opposite wall.

---

Kanda walked through the throng of people with his eyes closed. He hated to see people's faces, and crowds were the worst. The thick stream of bodies and the fear of losing track of loved ones brought out the worst in people. He cringed as he heard a mother chastising her children angrily, telling them to hurry up or get left behind.

Not only was it the faces - ugly ones, pretty ones, unmemorable ones - but it was the ongoing fear that any crowd, any throng of millions, could contain someone terrible. Criminals liked crowds, because it made them harder to spot, it was easier to blend in with millions of exasperated people.

And every time he got a split-second glance at someone's face, he would think it belonged to a person he'd once known. Whether loved or hated, it didn't really matter.

He didn't care about having his eyes closed. If anyone bumped into him, they'd just stare at the weird Asian guy with his eyes closed as he walked onwards. He could already feel the confused glances and concerned eyes on him, and, truthfully, he loved the attention. He loved the feeling of purpose, that people would talk about him when they reached their destination. _"Hey guys. I saw this really weird Japanese guy on my way here, walking along with his eyes closed. Crazy, huh?" "You know what the weirdest thing is? I saw some long-haired Asian walking with his eyes closed. __Not that it was easy to tell, haha." _

Kanda grinned to himself. He was a terrible person, and he didn't regret it at all.

His grin grew wider as his mobile rang. More people looked at him, paid him much-loved attention. He let it ring twice, then answered it.

"What do you want, Lavi?" He asked immediately.

"_How did you know it was me?" _The idiot's voice whined on the other end.

"I've got a sixth sense. Didn't you know? It's my idiot-sense." He joked.

"_Idiot-sense?"_

"Yeah. When I know that an idiot is about to talk to me, I sneeze." He said

"_You must sneeze a lot, Yuu-chan." _Lavi commented.

"Yeah, dunno why." He said sarcastically.

Lavi laughed nervously on the other end.

"Anyway, what's up?" Kanda asked.

"_Allen has to choose his subjects for school." _Lavi said boredly. "_He's starting in February, after all." _

"What a pain." Kanda grumbled. "Does he get the form in the mail or what?"

"_No, the principal said he can choose whatever four subjects he wants to, straight off the mark, no processing at all. He asked me to tell you because he's too lazy to inform you himself." _Lavi said.

"Is that all? I had a feeling you were going to tell me something important." Kanda said in annoyance.

"_You know me. I never have important news. I just called ya to annoy the fuck outta ya." _

"Well, it worked."

"_Well, bye. I love you." _

Kanda remained silent.

"Bye." He muttered, and hung up.

Kanda really, really hated crowds.

---

Allen rubbed his hair dry with a towel as he walked into the lounge room at a about ten in the morning.

Ellie tilted her head to one side. "My, we're all sleeping in today." She remarked.

He sat down at the bench, and put the towel around his shoulders, brooding.

She placed a bowl of porridge and a glass of strawberry juice in front of him.

He blinked a few times.

"Kanda's gone out on for a walk." She said. "So you'd better be fed and ready to go before he comes back."

Allen swallowed a mouthful of porridge. "This is good." He murmured. "But why do I have to be ready? What's happening?"

"Nothing, Kanda just likes to watch you when you're under pressure." Ellie said offhandedly.

Allen rolled his eyes. "Well fuck me. I hadn't noticed that before."

She smiled, and looked at the subject application form sitting on the bench, with the 'special instructions' scrawled on it in black pen.

"Hey, Moyashi..." She said, chewing her thumb.

Allen looked sidelong at her. "Hm?"

"What are you good at? What things do you like to do?" she asked.

"I...I dunno." Allen admitted. "I haven't tried enough stuff to know what I like."

Ellie sighed. "What subjects would you like to do at school this year? We'll be in grade twelve, same homeroom, and Religious Education is compulsory.

Allen blinked. "How many can I choose?" He asked.

"Four."

Allen bit his lip, and Ellie tapped her pen on the paper.

"How about I just go through the list?"

Allen nodded.

"Okay...Sport?"

"Hmm...no."

Ellie put a line through Physical Education.

"Art?"

"Um...I'm really bad at drawing."

Ellie crossed out Art & Design. It was going to be a long morning.

---

Ellie groaned. "And that's all..." She murmured.

Allen flopped onto the table. "Only one class..." He muttered.

There was silence for a moment as they wallowed in doom.

"Hey! Ellie, what classes are you doing?" Allen asked.

Ellie looked confused. " Music, English Literature, Sociology, and Psychology." She said.

"I'll just do all of those!" Allen said, beaming.

"But what if you hate them?" She asked, ticking the four boxes.

"Then at least I'll have someone cool to talk to!"

Ellie looked at him sceptically.

"But that means...you'll pretty much spend your whole day with me..."

Allen's eyes gleamed. "Yup! Isn't that awesome?!"

She pursed her lips. "I guess..."

---

Kanda walked past Allen on his way to the fridge. The teenager was on Ellie's expensive laptop, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Kanda sighed, and grabbed a can of pepsi from the back of the fridge. "What are you looking so constipated for, shortarse?" He asked, peering over Allen's shoulder.

"...Flowers that fall apart? What's this shit?" He asked again, snorting.

Allen looked up him in confusion. "Kanda, what kind of flower, when you put two together, falls apart?" He asked.

Kanda blinked. "A riddle? I dunno." He tapped the screen. "I don't think you're meant to answer it like this, baka."

Allen sighed. "But it's been bugging me for ages! Ellie said it would take my mind off of stuff, but I didn't think it would work this well!"

Kanda opened his drink. " If Ellie gave it to you, then the Baka Usagi will probably know it." He said, walking off.

"And that's as lenient as I'm gonna be today, so don't bug me about it any more."

Allen scowled, glaring after the older man.

---

Ellie grinned at Miranda. "Eh, you're such a dramatic person, Miranda. It won't cause that much trouble if you don't have your books. If you don't get 'em, it'll be the school's fault." She sighed. "And didn't I already tell you that I've got all of your new stuff from the booklist safely boxed up for ya?!"

Miranda nodded. "Okay...I'll just have to have faith in you, Ellie-chan!"

Ellie slouched. "And you didn't before? I dunno whether to be offended or happy."

---

Lavi woke up muzzily to the sound of his alarm clock going spastic. He looked at the time, and discovered that, if it had gone off when he'd set it to, then it should've been beeping manically for a little on four hours.

He threw the annoying thing across the room, where it hit a tall stack of books and thudded to the floor. He then rolled out of bed, got up, and fell over a collapsed pile of either game guides, game magazines, pornography, or all three.

He pushed himself back up, and grumbled something about homicidal books, before jumping in the air at the sound of his phone. Sighing, he scaled History Mountain, and tumbled into the History/Latin ravine, trying to remember where he'd left his phone.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he pulled himself to sit on top of his Latin books, and looked around. Then, with a triumphant grin, he leapt towards his phone, sitting on a stack of video games, and destroyed several tall piles of reference books on the way.

He answered the phone with a smug "Hello?"

"_Ah, Lavi-san! I've got a question." _Said the voice on the other end, who he recognised as Allen.

"Ermm...yeah?" He asked in confusion.

"_Mm-hm! What flower falls apart when you put two together?" _

Lavi deadpanned. A riddle. It was too early in the morning for this shit. "No idea." He said, then hung up.

Groaning, he put his phone next to the computer that was beside him on his desk, and slid down the wall as a wave of guilt and nausea washed over him. He remembered now, why he felt like such an arsehole.

"_I need this, Lavi!" Kanda said angrily, sitting up in the hospital bed. "You love me, right?" He said, in more hushed tones. "So why don't you help me? Seriously, I can't take this fucking tension any more, I need to screw that goddamn Moyashi. But seeing as I can't, you don't mind being a substitute, do you?"_

_What? _He asked himself. _WHAT?! What the fuck do you mean 'don't mind being a substitute'? Fuck! _

Of course he fucking minded, of course he did! Being used like that...how the hell had he allowed it? He should've just said 'No fucking way. I'm not being your blow-up doll.' And left it there. Kanda wouldn't have hated him for it, right?

But no, of course, he didn't say that. Seeing that guy so desperate had made him feel guilty in some weird way. So he'd agreed, gone over to Kanda's place while the two kids were out grocery shopping and seeing their friend. He'd put a blindfold on Kanda, said it'd be easier to pretend if he couldn't see who he was fucking. And then he'd done the deed, loving every second of it until Kanda had said the Moyashi's name.

And what had he done after he'd finished? Sped home as fast as he could, with his tail in between his legs, whining like a kicked puppy. He didn't even have the courage to be pleased with himself for fucking the person he loved, instead he curled up into a big ball of self-hatred.

Then he remembered the phone call from earlier. _'Bye. I love you.'_

What the hell had he been thinking? Was he really just a stupid hopeless masochist after all?


	7. Kokoro o oni ni Suru

**Okiniiri**

**~Kokoro o oni ni suru~**

**A/N: **This chapter's title, 'Kokoro o oni ni suru' means 'make one's heart a demon'. Basically, to take a hard-hearted attitude towards someone precisely because you care.

---

Both Ellie and Allen sat in the back of Kanda's black Mercedes, wearing their Guilford Young uniforms, and with the small amount of books in their laps. Allen was jiggling slightly in his seat, out of both excitement and anxiety, while Ellie merely looked bored at the prospect of going back to school.

As soon as Kanda had pulled up behind the college, and told them bluntly to get the hell out of his car, both teens let out a rather long yawn, scrambling to open the doors while balancing exercise books in their arms.

Allen watched the car turn a corner and disappear down the very steep, very tall, hill with a frown on his face. "Where's that guy off to in a hurry?" He asked nobody in particular. "And why did he drop us off so early?"

Ellie yawned again. "Well, he's gotta be an early bird to get to the pigpen on time." She commented.

Allen looked at her in confusion. "Pigpen?" He asked.

"Police station." She explained. "He's a copper."

She motioned for him to follow her, and turned down the corner towards the main gate of the school.

Allen took a few flighty steps after her in order to catch up. "Why didn't you tell me 'till now? And how come he got the holidays off if he's a cop?" He asked.

"Guess it just slipped my mind. And he had holidays off so you could get used to him and his house properly, and because he hasn't had a proper holiday like that since Zöe and Warren were shoved under his care." She explained, smirking. "And because after his few days off for Christmas, he couldn't be bothered dragging his lazy arse up there again, so he got some paid leave."

Allen rolled his eyes, and shifted the bag on his back.

"Now." Ellie said, shifting into business mode. "We have gotten everything arranged so that you don't have to leave my side if you don't want to. If the stares and overwhelming crowds get too much for you, because I know they did for me, you can cling onto my jumper or something until you're okay again. You're in my homeroom, and luckily you chose to be in all my classes as well, so it shouldn't be too hard to alert me if something's wrong. It's your choice whether you want to sit next to me or have your locker next to mine, though. We're not trying to babysit you, we're just being cautious. Especially since your record said that you have mild claustrophobia." She said with a slight twist of her mouth.

Allen nodded. "I don't think it will be necessary, but I'm grateful that you guys set this all up for me. Though it is just a little bit too much."

Ellie smiled goodnaturedly. "That's good. I like my jumper the shape it is." She said, pulling aforesaid dark grey jumper down a bit.

There was silence for a moment, as they both leaned against the tall wire fence that surrounded the sports court.

Allen furrowed his brow. "What college did Lavi and Kanda go to?" He asked.

Ellie looked surprised for a moment, then smirked. "Hutchins." She said. "Very prestigious school, much more so for the boarders. It's an all-boys protestant private school, so they had to get the very top marks to be at such a high level."

Allen nodded. "Sounds like them." He noticed Ellie breaking into a fit of giggles. "What's so funny?" He asked.

"The Hutchins uniform..." She began, stifling short bursts of laughter. "...is black and pink." she finished, giggling uncontrollably.

Allen imagined Kanda in a black and pink college uniform - which for some reason had very small shorts and a very tight shirt - and snorted.

---

Detective Inspector Yuu Kanda sat at his desk, eyes not focused on the paper work in front of him, tapping his pen rhythmically on the paper, while his foot tapped the same rhythm on the floor.

One of his coworkers, Ben Fleming if he wasn't mistaken, glided over on his office chair.

"Something wrong?" He asked in a concerned yet casual way.

Kanda barely even glanced at him, continuing his rhythm. "Something's not right..." He admitted after a few moments of silence.

Ben rebounded off a wall, and came to a stop next to his friend. "What's not right?" He prompted.

Kanda's gaze flicked upward towards the curious brunette for a moment, registering the confusion and concern on the younger man's face.

"...Lunch" He finally yielded.

Ben nodded. "Ah. You usually get a packed lunch, right?" He said.

Kanda nodded. "Yes. I never realized how much a lack of packed lunch could potentially screw up my day."

Ben reminded Kanda of Lenalee and Ellie a lot. The guy was very righteous, pretty much selfless, and was extremely kind and optimistic. He was more of a friend and aide than a coworker, really. He was rarely ever sent out with someone besides Kanda.

He rolled his eyes as a grin appeared on Ben's face. "Want me to get it for ya, boss? I'm practically your slave anyway." He reasoned.

Kanda turned back to his work. "Sure. Do it." He said boredly.

Ben gave a short, flashy, mock-salute before pushing himself away from Kanda's desk.

---

Ellie slid down the red brick wall. "Thank fuck it's over." She said.

Allen rolled his eyes. "Thankyou, fuck." He said sarcastically, leaning on the wall beside her. "It wasn't that bad, Ellie."

His friend stared at him. "Are you bloody serious?! Mr Fullman is a sick bastard with a short fetish! If he wasn't so busy making me take five class sets of books to the library, he would've raped me by now!!"

Allen laughed. She looked a bit cute when she was freaked out. "Don't overreact so much. Besides, having someone want to rape you is no different from normal, right?" He asked jokingly.

Ellie hissed under a breath. "What are you _saying?!"_ She near screeched.

"I was only joking. C'mon, let's get some of that super strong coffee you mentioned earlier." He said, tugging on her jumper.

Not long afterward, Allen and his friend plonked themselves at an outside table, and the white-haired teen watched as Ellie practically inhaled the disgusting stuff.

There was something that refused to go unnoticed, though. It kept nagging at the back of Allen's mind. So many people were stealing glances at him, both male and female alike. They didn't seem to be stares, more like lustful gazes, and eyes green with jealousy at the sight of Ellie sitting with him. He had half a mind to stand up and scream 'WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?!' but something told him it'd be better not to.

But he did, however, ask Ellie about it.

"Hm?" She replied. "What do you mean 'why'? It's because you're so cute, Allen. You could even be sexy, with a stretch of the imagination, but either way, you're hot and people want you. You look so innocent, and you're pretty like a cute girl, not to mention short and slender. Not even skinny or thin, but _slender_. That word is in a whole different league to the other words that could describe you." She explained.

Allen stared at her. "...What?" He asked "Are you telling me that college students think in the same way those sick bastards who owned us do?"

Ellie barely had to think about it. "Pretty much, yeah. And these are the 'players', so to speak. They'd love you as their trophy." She rolled her eyes.

"Something tells me that even the outside world is pretty bad..." Allen said thoughtfully.

Ellie nodded. "I'd say that everything's the same, outside world or otherwise, but it's not. The outside people have similar thoughts to the people we used to interact with, though. They're just more polite and have proper self-control." She explained.

There was a drawn-out silence for a little while, and they could feel the tension in the air.

"Erm, anyway!" Ellie said nervously "We shouldn't be so gloomy and cynical! We've got music after this, so we can at least be amiable about that!"

---

Kanda's eyes slowly slid open as his partner entered the office. He yawned, and glared at the suspicious lack of packed lunch in Ben's hands. "Where is it?" He asked, growling slightly.

The slightly younger brunette averted his gaze nervously and chuckled. "Ellie said that she did it on purpose, because you're twenty-eight years old and should be able to make your own food." He said, promptly sitting down.

The long-haired Asian man grumbled incomprehensibly, and scowled at his brunette friend. "Away with you, slave. You should be hard at work doing breathtakingly boring slave things, like grinding wheat and setting up the altar for human sacrifice." He joked.

---

**A/N: **Okay, I'm sorry that this was so awe-inspiringly short, but if you give it time it'll get taller. Very slowly.

Yes...and this chapter had no purpose. None. It's filler. I'm sorry. I must be punished.

And by the next chapter, a couple of weeks might've gone by, because nothing happens during your first three weeks of school. I should know, I just experienced them.

And there may be content in the next chapter which causes me to rethink the rating for this story. Specifically, wet dreams. I'm looking forward to it :3


	8. Jigsaw

**Okiniiri**

**Chapter Seven**

**~Jigsaw~**

**A/N: **Ok. This will be my first time writing any kind of sex scene that isn't actually a roleplay with my best friend. But, practice makes perfect. You will also have noticed that I changed the rating to M, just so you guys could have glorious smut.

Allen and Kanda moaned loudly in unison as the younger began to raise himself up and slam down faster than before, picking up speed steadily, while also trying to maintain a steady rhythm. There was already a thin film of remaining cum on each of their stomachs from before, but one orgasm was barely enough.

Pants and gasps joined the moans and nonsensical shouts of pleasure as Kanda reached up, grabbed his lover's dick, and began to pleasure him, heightening the volume of the boy's shouts.

As Allen reached his climax, he could feel the ever-familiar coil in his stomach tighten itself, burning red-hot. Not soon after, he came, the white semen blossoming over his lover's stomach.

Evidently, the tightening caused by the teenager's climax had taken it's toll on Kanda, as he soon felt the strange-yet-wonderful sensation of his lover's hot, sticky seed, both of them moaning loudly in pleasure.

Completely spent, Allen let himself fall to one side, and dragged himself over to snuggle into Kanda's smooth body.

"I lo-"

"_ALLEN!"_

"-ve"

"_Allen, c'mon!"_

"yo-"

"_Wake the hell up!"_

Allen woke up, and shot into a straight sitting position. "What the hell just happened?" He asked loudly.

Dinner that evening was awkward for Allen and Kanda, though for different reasons. It was awkward for Allen because he'd had a quite graphic wet dream about the older man earlier that day, and it was awkward for Kanda because his subconscious was connecting everything the boy did to sex. Ellie had vacated the table long before, saying she needed to finish a musical piece, and Kanda instantly regretted buying her a piano three years ago.

Kanda glared at his stir fry grumpily, and, across from him, Allen slurped his noodles with a sound like a blocked drainpipe. Kanda glared at him, and Allen blushed.

"What?" The pale boy asked.

"Stop slurping your noodles as though you'd never eaten a meal in your life, and just _eat._" He commanded.

He creased his forehead in thought as Allen continued eating, trying his best not to slurp. He finally registered properly that the kid was blushing extremely bright red. He couldn't be that embarrassed by his incessant slurping, could he? No, of course not, not when he was so extremely bright red. Maybe he was remembering an incident at school? Lord knew he'd have enough humiliating experiences there, even Ellie got shit because she was 'adopted'.

Kanda suddenly realised that he hadn't eaten anything, and Allen was looking at him uncertainly. He looked down at his bowl, and stood up. "I'm not hungry. Have it if you like." He said moodily, walking towards his bedroom.

"But, Kanda-san-" Allen started.

"Shut up and eat the goddamn food!" Kanda snapped, as he opened the door and slammed it loudly when he entered the room.

There was brooding silence for a moment. Then -

"Fuck." Kanda muttered in the darkness.

Allen blushed in embarrassment as Ellie remained silent and calm, playing a few keys on her piano randomly. It had been dragging out for about five seconds now.

"Are you gonna tell someone?" Ellie asked finally, turning to look at him boredly.

Allen looked up. "What?"

"Besides me, I mean." She added, crossing her legs on the piano stool. "It would be more useful if you did. Because then they might let it slip to Kanda accidentally, and judging by his reaction, you can tell how he feels back. Or you could just be brave and tell him yourself." She finished, rolling her eyes.

"What? I couldn't do that! He's eleven years older than me! He'd probably ship me back to Cross! Or worse, just never speak to me again!" Allen said, appalled.

Ellie sighed. "Have you ever even _entertained _the idea that he might feel the same way? That _he _might've had wet dreams about _you_?"

Allen's mouth gaped open. "Wh-what? But that's- I mean, that's just-" Allen spluttered. "Wait, _what do you mean he might've had wet dreams about me? _What?"

Ellie smirked. "I _do _change his sheets once a fortnight, you know."

"What? You mean he-?" Allen started.

Ellie stood up, cutting him off. "Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies. Now, I have to go and do chores, so I highly recommend you bugger off." She said simply, walking towards the door.

Allen scowled at the doorway as she disappeared around it. "Girls are strange." He concluded.

He sat for a little while on Ellie's bed, thinking and chewing his lip compulsively.

After a while, he stood up and shuffled out of the room lethargically. Kanda might feel the same way...well, there was a thought. A very interesting one, at that. It was blatantly obvious, too - that was, if Ellie was right. She had been known to play with people, after all.

He pushed open his bedroom door with one hand, and walked like a zombie towards the soft, comfy, invitingly crimson bed. He let out a tired groan, and flopped onto it, before remembering that it was only afternoon, and berating himself for being so weak.

He sat up, and forced his eyes completely open. There was something on the end of his bed, that he hadn't noticed before. He blinked at it compulsively. It was Ellie's school uniform, he was pretty sure. Almost black jumper, navy tartan skirt, plain shirt...definitely Ellie's uniform, not his. So why...had Ellie put it there? Because she was the only person who could have, Kanda couldn't tell you a thing about female clothing if you pointed a gun at his head. Alternatively, he'd kick you in the genitals and kill you with your own weapon.

But, moving on. His old Master had once dressed him up in female clothing, well, to be honest, it was more than just once. He'd been everything from a schoolgirl to an air hostess, back during his Master's temporary cross-dressing fetish.

He...well, he couldn't exactly say he _missed _dressing up as a girl, but...was their any harm in cross-dressing again? After all, Ellie was just a bit taller and just as skinny as he was. If anyone found out, he could blame it on not feeling well and being a bit out of it and depressed. Certainly, it would work.

He blushed. But there was something else. The way the clothes laid on his bed, perfectly neat and tidy, with no note or anything, as if to say "You know what to do, boy, _wear us_." Like his Master would say when he got embarrassed and uncomfortable. The kind of person he was...he couldn't resist an order or expectation like that.

Still unsure, he slipped off his clothes.

Kanda was lounging on the couch in comfortable clothes. His hair was still wet from the shower and splayed across his shoulders and chest, soaking his shirt.

Surprisingly, he was reading Harry Potter. Well, trying to, anyway. He glared at the text grumpily, unable to conjure up a fondness or any of the characters, not believing that this was a best-selling and extremely popular children's book that people of all ages loved. He really hated stories like this, though, where everything was black and white with very partial shades of grey. In his world, no-one he'd ever met was pure black or white, everyone was a shade of grey. There were normal people, who considered them selves to be light-ish grey, but were actually exactly inbetween black and white, and holy people or freedom fighters who thought of themselves as light silver, but were actually more of a dull polluted-snow colour. Then there were people like him, a darker grey, and people like Allen and Ellie's old masters, so dark grey that they liked to think of themselves as black, but actually they're much too far from it.

But he was probably thinking too much into it. Definitely.

In annoyance, he slammed the book shut and put it on the table. Goddamnit, he hated books that made him think like that so much.

He was soaking himself in annoyance when Ellie appeared behind him. "Ne, watcha up to, Kanda-tama?" She asked, in a tone that reminded the dark-haired man of Lavi.

Kanda glared up at her. She was touching him. He hated when people touched him. _Hated _it so goddamn much.

"Get off me." He growled under his breath.

Ellie ignored him. "If you're not doing anything, could ya grab something for me? I'm actually really busy with chores, and it'll be a big help."

Kanda fumed silently until Ellie removed her arms. "It's on Allen's bed." She continued. "So it shouldn't be too much of a hassle."

Over the past - what was it, ten or eleven weeks now? - time he'd spent with Ellie at school, Allen had made a few observations.

First; Ellie was passive to everyone, not even making eye contact. At first, Allen had understood, but after a while he remembered that she'd been going to school for about four years now, so she should've been used to strangers and other people. But when she was on her own or just with her friends, she talked animatedly and excitedly like any other teenage girl in college. However, even though she usually just did what she was told and walked over by other people, there was a handful of people she would _not _take _any _shit from. This handful included a trio of arrogant, snobby girls and a group of wannabe-delinquent boys. But everyone else could toss food wrappers at her and skirt around her as though she was diseased without her ever doing anything more than shrugging, making a small non-committal noise and walking on.

Second; Ellie took every opportunity to expose the barcode on her wrist. Allen had no idea why, but she seemed to enjoy showing all of the other complaining teenagers just how easy their lives were compared to how hers had once been. Once or twice he had seen her pull her jumper sleeve up just a bit when hearing other people complain about their parents or how they'd been grounded, and the parasitic spark in her eyes, as though she fed off the energy people released when they were forced to agree to something.

Third; She also made a point of only speaking if spoken to. This also confused Allen. She was mostly silent in lessons and around other people, until they asked her a question. And even then, it would just be a short, bored answer.

Fourth; The only person she would allow to diffuse any conflict was Lavi, and Lavi was the only person allowed to touch her at school. Allen didn't know if this was because Lavi was her counsellor, or her most trusted friend, or what. All he knew was that it was definitely strange.

With all of this, Allen wondered how she managed to be so happy and calm all the time at home. He was sure it was stressful, but it was almost like Ellie was an outcast of her own volition, as though she worked extra hard so that people would think she was a joke. Of course, she may've developed masochistic tendencies from her time locked up or with Tyki, but surely they would've died down after four years?

But anyway, it was quite odd, bordering on attention-seeking, and Allen wondered if it wasn't a mental condition or something. Hell, it would definitely add on to the already interesting list of medication she was on; antidepressants to keep her happy and suppressants to balance it out, iodine pills to keep her sharp, prescription vitamins and calcium tablets, SSRI's, SNRI's, and MAOI's.

He briefly wondered how much money Kanda paid for all the medication plus his own (although Allen still hadn't found out what kind of disorder the object of his affections had, he was working on it). It was probably a ton, and he thanked God that he didn't have any disorders or needed medication.

Kanda - who had, according to Benjamin, been moody and blushing and spacing out all day - returned his focus to the impatient Lenalee standing in front of his desk. "What exactly do you expect me to do about something like that? It's not my fault all of the stupid boy's files are completely empty! You're the one who's supposed to chase-up stuff like that!" He snarled.

Lenalee glared at him. "I don't care. You have the access. I don't even really care about Allen's files, I can get Lavi to organise that for me, I just want to see his parent's criminal records." She stated crisply.

"And what makes you think I'll be able to find them?" Kanda asked in outrage "I only have access to Australian files, Allen's parents could live in any country in the whole world!"

Lenalee shrugged. "So? Use some excuse. Anyway, I already know who you'll have to bribe to get info on them. I managed to find his parents, in any case, there's just no way I'll be able to get access without you." She said tiredly, dropping a Manila file onto his desk.

Kanda flipped it open grumpily. "You've got their social security numbers. Should be easy for Lavi to do. No effort at all."

Lenalee remained silent, so Kanda took the opportunity to read through the printout. Halfway through he stopped in surprise. "_Belgium?_" He asked. "Why would anyone ever want to live in Belgium?"

"That's not the point." Lenalee told him. "The point is that I want you to find out everything you can about them. And make it quick."

Kanda growled again. "That's your job. I just pay for all of the brat's requirements and give him a good home. You're the one who sneaks around."

Lenalee turned around. "Get it done by the next time I see you." She snapped, and left.

Kanda was left on his own to throw a tantrum and glare at his 'partner'.

Ellie yawned. "Twelve weeks have passed by so quickly!" She marvelled. "And now, it' the last day of term! No school for three weeks!"

Allen grinned nervously. "Yeah...and, isn't Kanda-san's birthday...in two weeks?" He queried.

Ellie smirked. "Yes...and mine's a week later, so you'll have two chances to, er, 'warm up' to Kanda."

Allen blushed. "I don't know what you mean." He insisted stubbornly.

Ellie just rolled her eyes and started to pull her scarf on. It was only about twelve degrees today, freezing even for Tasmania, and both teens were fairly numb from the temperature.

Allen gratefully took the scarf and hat that was handed to him, listening to Ellie grumble as they put them on.

"Allen, promise me, next year when both of us are eighteen, we are moving to Queensland." She said grumpily, blowing on her hands.

**A/N: Sorry if it's still too short. And I can't actually remember what happens, so I've got nothing to comment on. The 'twelve degrees' up there is celsius, since it's in Australia, and Tasmania and Queensland are two states in Australia - Tasmania being the freezing cold island down the bottom, and Queensland being the one next to the equator with all the theme parks.**


End file.
